U.S. 3rd Fleet composed of 115 vessels ready to help West Pacific, a clear message to China

In the history of the U.S. Navy, Vice Admiral. Nora Tyson, a female fleet commander, is responsible for the 115 vessels and 60,000 mariners that make up the intense and powerful third Fleet.

Tyson said, In spite of the fact that the fleet’s region of obligation lies in the eastern Pacific in Hawaii near the international date line up to the United States West Coast. She is well prepared to convey and deploy her fleet to the tension-prone western Pacific to augment and help the Seventh Fleet, situated in Yokosuka, Japan.

“Our official, Admiral Scott Swift (Head officer of the Pacific Fleet), might want to obscure or blur the international date line and guarantee that the Third Fleet and Seventh Fleet can work effortlessly together,” Tyson said in a selective meeting amid her visit to Japan on Monday.

The date line has been the managerial limit that isolates the Seventh Fleet in the west and the Third Fleet in the east. Yet, Tyson said the line will serve less as an obstruction later on as both fleets expand cooperation. Very easily I can come to be a force multiplier,” the three-star vice admiral said.

Her visit this week in Japan was unconventional. Instead of her counterpart Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin of the seventh fleet, Tyson was asked to represent the U.S. Navy in observing the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet review, held Sunday near Tokyo Bay.

The Seventh Fleet is headquartered right by the MSDF in Yokosuka, and the two sides consistently cooperate. Admiral Swift’s choice to send Tyson is symbolic of the extended role the Third Fleet will play in the western Pacific, where the ascent rise of China and the vulnerabilities encompassing North Korea make it a key center of the Navy.

Tyson welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the fleet review, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, making Abe the first sitting Japanese leader to board such a vessel. “He flew in on a helicopter,” Tyson said. “The weather was beautiful. We took him on a tour of the ship.” The Seventh Fleet is the world’s biggest forward-sent maritime power, with a region of obligation that envelops more than 48 million sq. miles, from Hawaii to the tip of India.

Tyson said the new “blurred” boundary will allow more flexibility in command and control. “We don’t have a line in the sand that says when you go across this longitudinal line that you automatically have to report to me or to Admiral Aucoin,” she said. “Depending on the circumstances or scenario, we have more flexibility over who has command and control of the forces. We have the flexibility to move forces around and report to different commanders.”

Hypothetically, it could mean numerous more naval ships operating and working in the western Pacific, with two leaders all the while running the operation. In spite of the fact that the Navy has not unequivocally said as much, the moves send a clear message to China, whose land reclamation activities in disputed areas of the South China Sea have cocked eyebrows around the globe. Alluding to that waterway, Tyson said: “Our job is to ensure the free flow of commerce and stability. Historically, we have sailed wherever international law allows us to. We will continue to do that.”

A report from an influential U.S. thinks tank Rand recently warned the danger and risk of U.S. aircraft carriers being detected and attacked by Chinese submarines. It recommended that carriers would be better off deployed “well away from China, ” implying that carriers ought to be moved from the waters close Japan towards the southern Pacific.

Tyson opposes this idea. “It is important that we maintain a forward presence here in Japan, and around the world. We do that for deterrence,” she said. – Carl E /military.com/asia nikkei.com

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